Top Biden administration officials met with executives from OpenAI, Nvidia, Microsoft, and other companies on Thursday to discuss the future of artificial intelligence. The focus of the meeting centered around the establishment of data centers in the United States and the necessary infrastructure for AI development. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre highlighted the importance of increasing collaboration between the public and private sectors, as well as addressing workforce and permitting needs within the industry.
The meeting also included discussions with utility companies Exelon and AES, as reliable access to electricity is crucial for the computer power required in the AI sector. Power grid needs were a key topic of conversation during the meeting.
The emergence of AI brings both promise and potential risks. While the technology has the potential to increase economic productivity through automatically generated text, images, audio, and video, it also poses a threat to certain job sectors. Additionally, AI can serve as both a national security tool and a potential threat that needs to be guarded against.
In October of last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at addressing the development of AI. The order sought to establish protections, including measures such as watermarking AI content and addressing consumer rights issues.
The meeting was attended by several high-ranking officials from the Biden administration, including White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, among others. Corporate attendees included CEOs and executives from Nvidia, OpenAI, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon subsidiary AWS.
Discussions during the meeting covered various topics, including the modernization of the nation’s utility grid, expediting permits for new projects, and integrating carbon-free energy projects into the grid.